The big questions
Subtitle: tackling the problems of philosophy with ideas from mathematics, economics, and physics
By: Steven E. Landsburg
Edition: 1st Free Press hardcover ed.
Publisher: Free Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 267
ISBN-13: 9781439148211
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The beginning of the journey : how this book came to be, and what it's about; title: Reality and unreality. On what there is : why is there something instead of nothing? The best answer I have : mathematics exists because it must and everything else exists because it is made of mathematics. With an excursion into artificial intelligence; title: Unfinished business : going bananas : unfinished business from chapter 1 : the nature and purpose of economic models; title: How Richard Dawkins got it wrong : the case against God : why Dawkins's argument against intelligent design can't be right, and a mathematical analysis of the arguments for the existence of God; title: Beliefs. Daydream believers : most beliefs are ill-considered, because most false beliefs are costless to hold. The next several chapters will explore the consequences of this observation, before we return to the question of where our beliefs and knowledge come from; title: Unfinished business : unfinished business from the preceding chapter : how color vision works, sound and water waves, the sheer craziness of economic protectionism; title: Do believers believe? Our ill-considered beliefs about religion. Why I believe that almost nobody is deeply religious; title: On what there obviously is : our ill-considered beliefs about free will, ESP, and life after death; title: Diogenes's nightmare : how is legitimate disagreement possible? If you're arguing with someone who is as intelligent and informed as you are, shouldn't you put just as much weight on your opponent's arguments as your own? The fact that we persist in disagreeing is strong evidence that we don't really care what's true; title: Knowledge. Knowing your math : where mathematical knowledge comes from, and why evidence and logic are not enough; title: Unfinished business : Hercules and the hydra : unfinished business from the preceding chapter : the tale of Hercules and the hydra, with an excursion into the lore of very large numbers; title: Incomplete thinking : Gödel's incompleteness theorem, and what it doesn't say about the limits of human knowledge; title: The rules of logic and the tale of the potbellied pig : the power of logical thought, with excursions into the most counterintuitive theorem in all of mathematics; title: The rules of evidence; title: What we can and can't learn from evidence, with excursions into the value of preschool and how Internet porn prevents rape; title: The limits to knowledge : what physics does and doesn't tell us about what we can and cannot know. Understanding Heisenberg's uncertainty principle; title: Unfinished business : quantum entanglement : the oddness of the quantum world, and why it matters to game theorists; title: Right and wrong. Telling right from wrong : some hard questions about right and wrong, and about life and death; title: The economist's golden rule : a rule of thumb for good behavior; title: How to be socially responsible : a user's guide to the economist's golden rule : putting the rule of thumb into practice; title: On not being a jerk : Goofus and Gallant on immigration policy; title: The economist on the playground : our ill-considered beliefs about fairness in the marketplace and in the voting booth, contrasted with our carefully considered beliefs about fairness on the playground; title: Unfinished business : let the rabbi split the pie : how ancient Talmudic scholars anticipated modern economic theory; title: The life of the mind. How to think : some basic rules for clear thinking, mostly about economics, but also about arithmetic, neurobiology, sin, and eschewing blather; title: What to study : advice to college students : some advice to college students : stay away from the English department and approach the philosophy department with caution. With an excursion into the remarkable life of Frank Ramsey.